Posted on 06/28/2010 9:57:49 AM PDT by Palter
For Darrel Higgins, finding an ancient arrowhead in a creek isn't surprising, it's actually expected. Finding a record-setting artifact that dates back to an estimated 14,000 to 18,000 years? Definitely unexpected.
Higgins has been hunting creek beds for artifacts since he began finding them on farmland when he was a child. But nothing he had found compared to the 9 3/4 inch by 2 3/4 inch specimen he recently found in western Kentucky. The item, described as a clovis point made of buffalo river chert, was submerged in a creek bed when Higgins stumbled upon it.
“As soon as I picked it up, I knew what I had,” he said. “It's usually a long walk back to my truck. Not that day, I was walking on air.”
Higgins was reluctant to specify where he found the clovis, but said he immediately went to his long-time friend and artifact expert Tom Davis in eastern Kentucky to have the item authenticated. Davis dated the clovis back to the days of when prehistoric man roamed the earth and hunted large game. By measurement, it sets a North American record.
“There are some skeptics because of the size of it. But it's a record. There's one as long found in Washington state but it's not as wide,” Higgins said.
Higgins had it authenticated again during the Genuine Indian Relic Society show in Temple, Texas and was able to show it off to enthusiasts. He said he has had some buyer interest but is looking for the right price to take it off his hands. It currently is securely locked away.
“It's worth as much as someone is willing to pay and as much as I am willing to take,” he said.
The process of discovering an item that has been buried for so long is mainly fueled by rain and erosion. Higgins said that arrowheads, spearheads and other artifacts were left behind or lost at campsites and kill sites near creeks. A creek served as a source for water for early man as well as a place to find wild game to hunt for food.
Over time, the sites were covered up. As the creeks have changed paths and continued to cut through the earth, portions of the sites have become exposed, bringing the artifacts back to the surface.
“Erosion washes away the dirt, especially after deep rains. A deep freeze followed by a deep rain knocks chunks of dirt off and then a second or third rain exposes anything in the dirt,” Higgins said.
To find artifacts, Higgins walks up and down creek beds while keeping his eyes locked on the ground. He doesn't dig or excavate, but looks for what the rains and water have exposed. His eyes are trained to look for perfectly straight edges and sharp points among the rocks and pebbles.
“Creekwalking,” as Higgins calls it, now takes up most of his free time. A typical day of creekwalking could take anywhere from five to ten hours and empty a tank of gas as he travels around the region.
“I've hung up my (fishing) rods and guns a long time ago,” he said. “You don't always find stuff but you can't get discouraged.”
Higgins lives in Hickman County but said he has found items in the Lynn Grove area of Calloway County and knows people who have uncovered artifacts in the Clarks River. As he has collected items over the years, he has sold some and kept others, but is always looking for more.
“As soon as you spot one it's like a time warp. You wander back through time and think about when it was used and when it was lost,” Higgins said.
Clovis, Dragon slayer, epic.
I smell a hoax.
He's right. Wow!
Are you saying that it was made in China?
“It’s worth as much as someone is willing to pay and as much as I am willing to take”
He understands economics better than Paul Krugman.
15,000 years in a creek bed and still pristine? I want to believe but I'm with you; it's too good to be true.
I grew up in the Fla. panhandle, and it was common to find pieces of Indian pottery in old campsites close to some of the bays. However, if you went walking along freshwater creeks, you’d scare up far more water moccasins than Indian artifacts.
Lol. Same, for me, N. Central Fl, found many a sharks tooth over the years. As well as a few arrowheads.
More likely a spearhead than an arrowhead...
My father in law has one about 2/3 that size found in Alabama.
Me too. To find a complete undamaged point that's been eroded out in a rocky stream bed is highly unlikely. That point is in pristine condition with sharp edges where flakes were removed. The normal tumbling action of being washed in a stream would round those edges and probably break the thinnest parts.
“it’s too good to be true.”
Not really. As he mentioned, the creek changes its course, dso it’s not like there was running water on it all the time.
Hey, flint, buried in mud...
Why not?
http://www.flintknapping.com/Sales_Stone.htm
Wonder how you would flake/chip an arrow head from this raw material??
Could you age the finished product to appear pre-historic?
Hmmmmm/
That's what I was thinking too. Also, if it were smaller, it would have been the head of an atlatl dart, rather than an arrow. Bows and arrows were much more recent technology.
No way...it has to be an arrowhead for Big Foot for sure...no hoax here. :)
Spear point not arrow head
Reporters are idiots....
Hmmm...sounds like he found it on someone else's land.
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